‘You ring Camilla or Sarah tomorrow, then.’ Piet realised how much she deserved this. She was too young to have been through everything that had happened and she was working very hard. He owed her some pleasure. ‘Tell them both we’re looking forward to it. But don’t spend half an hour gabbling on the phone. It’s very expensive.’

When they finally stood up from the dying fire, Hannah reached up to kiss her brother and he rubbed his bristly chin against her cheek.

‘Thanks again, Piet. You’ve no idea what this means to me.’

‘You deserve it. You’ve been working like a slave, and you’re not bad when all’s said and done. For a girl, I mean.’

He laughed as she pummelled him on the chest, and he went to his room whistling. Hannah watched him go, filled with optimism for the months ahead. She was glad that he and Anthony were working together. The man was a mine of information and experience, and he knew everybody in the tourist industry both locally and overseas. He would be an ideal partner and he was an old friend. They would make it. It would be all right. And now there was the reunion in August and her birthday in September. There would be so many things to tell and share. In the garden she could hear the whistle and chirp of nightjars and tree frogs underpinning the distant whoo-wup call of hyenas, and the warning bark of a zebra moving away from a night predator.

At dawn she made her way to the dairy where Lars was waiting. They watched the cows being brought in and went round the stalls together, examining and discussing each one, talking to the herdsman and the dairy boys in charge of the milking, and Lars explained to them that she would be taking over responsibility for the dairy. Hannah’s face was alight with pleasure as she made her rounds and she felt enormous pride at being given this vital role. When Anthony had driven away Hannah returned, with less reluctance than before, to her paperwork. She was frowning over an invoice that appeared excessive when Juma, the headman, appeared at the door.

‘There is a man outside,’ he said. ‘He would like to see you.’

Hannah looked up from her paperwork. ‘What man?’

‘A young Kikuyu, Memsahib Hannah. He has a letter from the mission school at Kagumo.’

‘Kagumo?’ Hannah was surprised. ‘He’s come a long way, hasn’t he? What does he want?’

‘He wishes to see Bwana Piet,’ Juma said.

‘He’s not here,’ she said. ‘He went to look at the bull that caught its leg in the fence last night. Tell the man to come back later.’

Juma disappeared from view, and Hannah heard the sound of voices on the steps outside. When he came back, he was holding a carefully folded letter.